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Sonoco has announced a new research partnership with Clemson University: the Sonoco FRESH -- Food Research Excellence for Safety and Health -- initiative will develop new technologies and new forms of packaging to optimize the fresh food lifecycle. To establish the multi-disciplinary hub for innovation and research to advance fresh food packaging and distribution, Sonoco will contribute $1.725M over 5 years. The company will also sponsor business-driven research projects totaling $1M over that period. Sonoco FRESH is an extension of the partnership that created the Sonoco Institute of Packaging Design and Graphics at Clemson.

Catch up on today's top five analyst upgrades with this list compiled by The Fly: 1. Pfizer (PFE) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at BMO Capital with analyst Alex Arfaei saying he expects "positive updates" on the company's pipeline that could improve investors' view on the company. 2. Royal Caribbean (RCL) upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs with analyst Stephen Grambling citing "strong" leisure trends following the company's better than expected second quarter results. 3. Illumina (ILMN) upgraded to Equal-Weight from Underweight at First Analysis with analyst Joseph Munda saying concerns regarding sequencing overcapacity in the marketplace and the potential rate of adoption for NovaSeq are diminishing based on performance in the quarter. 4. Agios Pharmaceuticals (AGIO) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Leerink with analyst Michael Schmidt citing his higher-level conviction regarding the commercial opportunity for its IDH inhibitors Idhifa and ivosidenib in acute myeloid leukemia following Idhifa FDA-approval and his recent checks indicating a high degree of enthusiasm for these agents in the physician community pointing to potential good initial uptake. 5. Sonoco Products (SON) upgraded to Hold from Sell at Vertical Research with analyst Chip Dillion citing valuation. This list is just a portion of The Fly's full analyst coverage. To see The Fly's full Street Research coverage, click here.

08/04/17

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08/04/17UPGRADEVERTHold

Sonoco Products upgraded to Hold from Sell at Vertical Research

09/06/17

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09/06/17UPGRADEBOFABuy

Sonoco Products uupgraded to Buy from Underperform at BofA/Merrill

BofA/Merrill analyst George Staphos upgraded Sonoco Products two notches to Buy from Underperform to reflect a margin recovery, volume improvement, portfolio optimization, and relative value. The analyst made no change to estimates and maintained a $56 price target on Sonoco shares.

Snap Inc. (SNAP) is banning ads of initial coin offerings in its Snapchat app, Cheddar reports, citing a company spokesperson. The decision makes Snapchat the latest social media platform to prohibit advertisements for cryptocurrency ICOs, the report says. In contrast to Facebook (FB) and Google (GOOG), however, Snap's current block of ICOs has been in effect since early February and does not apply to different kinds of cryptocurrency ads, the report says. Reference Link

Airbus (EADSY) is mulling making a freighter version of its slow-selling A330neo widebody, spurred by requests from potential customers Amazon (AMZN) and UPS (UPS), Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the matter. The interest from Amazon and UPS could incite a competition between Airbus and rival Boeing (BA) as the worldwide air-cargo market rebounds from a slump, the report notes.

Facebook's chief information security officer, Alex Stamos, will leave the company after internal disagreements over how the social network should deal with its role in spreading disinformation, The New York Times reports, citing current and former employees briefed on the matter. Reference Link

Amazon has considered the possibility of expanding its retail footprint by acquiring some stores from bankrupt Toys 'R' Us, Bloomberg reports, citing people with knowledge of the situation. The e-commerce giant is not interested in maintaining the Toys 'R' Us brand, but has mulled using the soon-to-be-vacant stores for its own purposes, the report says. Reference Link

President Trump is readying to place a package of $60B in annual tariffs against China, following through on a long-time threat that he claims will punish China for IP infringement and create more jobs in the U.S., the Washington Post reports. The tariff package, which the president intends to unveil by the end of the week, was confirmed by four senior administration officials, the report notes. Senior aides has presented Trump with a $30B tariff package that would apply to a variety of products, but the president directed them to approximately double the amount of new trade levies, the report says. The package could be applied to over 100 products, which the president contends were made by using trade secrets that the Chinese stole from U.S. companies or forced them to hand over in exchange for market aces, the report says. Reference Link